The Two-Way

10:03 am

Wed January 15, 2014

Piracy On High Seas At Lowest Level In 6 Years, Report Says

Troops from the EU Naval Force warship FS Aconit intercepting a group of suspected pirates off Somalia in March 2012. Multinational naval patrols in the area have been partly credited with reducing incidents of piracy.

The maritime watchdog says there were 264 strikes against shipping worldwide last year — a drop of 40 percent since attacks peaked in 2011. And there were just 15 attacks off the coast of Somalia; by comparison, that same area saw 75 attacks in 2012 and 237 the year before.

"The single biggest reason for the drop in worldwide piracy is the decrease in Somali piracy off the coast of East Africa," Pottengal Mukundan, IMB's director, said in a statement.

The report credits "a combination of factors, including the key role of international navies, the hardening of vessels, the use of private armed security teams, and the stabilizing influence of Somalia's central government" for the decrease.

"[More] than 300 people were taken hostage at sea last year and 21 were injured, nearly all with guns or knives. A total of 12 vessels were hijacked, 202 were boarded, 22 were fired upon, and a further 28 reported attempted attacks. Nigerian pirates were particularly violent, killing one crewmember, and kidnapping 36 people to hold onshore for ransom."

The report says Indonesia has bucked the trend, accounting for 50 percent of all reported attacks in 2013, but that they were generally "low-level opportunistic thefts and not to be compared with the more serious incidents off Africa."

It also said that 19 percent of all attacks worldwide last year occurred off the West African coast, with Nigerian pirates, who accounted for 31 of the region's 51 attacks, being "particularly violent."